The US capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro – praised by President Donald Trump as “stunning and powerful” – leaves behind uncertainty and questions over who is running the oil-rich country.
As part of the operation early on Saturday that knocked out electricity in parts of Caracas and included attacks on military installations, US special forces seized Mr Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and flew them to the US.
Mr Trump on Saturday said the US would “run the country” until it can ensure a “safe, proper and judicious transition”. He also said the country's Vice President Delcy Rodriguez had been sworn in as president.
Under Venezuela's constitution, Ms Rodriguez becomes acting president in Mr Maduro's absence and the country's highest court ordered her to assume the role late Saturday night.
But shortly after Mr Trump's remarks, she appeared on state television accompanied by her brother, the head of the national assembly Jorge Rodriguez, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello and Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez and said that Mr Maduro remained Venezuela's only president. The joint appearance indicated the group that shared power with the captured Venezuelan leader is staying united – for now.
“We call on the peoples of the great homeland to remain united, because what was done to Venezuela can be done to anyone. That brutal use of force to bend the will of the people can be carried out against any country,” she said as she condemned the US operation.
Mr Trump publicly closed the door Saturday on working with opposition leader and Nobel Prize winner Maria Corina Machado, widely seen as Mr Maduro's most credible opponent, saying she does not have support inside the country.
Who is Delcy Rodriguez?
Ms Rodriguez, 56, was born on May 18, 1969 in Caracas and is the daughter of left-wing guerrilla fighter Jorge Antonio Rodriguez, who founded the revolutionary Liga Socialista party in the 1970s.
Her roles as finance and oil minister, held simultaneously with her vice-presidential post, have made her a key figure in the management of Venezuela's economy and gained her major influence with the country's withered private sector. She has applied orthodox economic policies in an effort to fight exaggerated inflation.
She is a lawyer who graduated from Universidad Central de Venezuela and rose rapidly through the political ranks in the past decade, serving as Communication and Information Minister between 2013 and 2014.
Ms Rodriguez, known as a lover of designer fashions, was foreign minister from 2014 to 2017, during which time she attempted to crash a Mercosur trade bloc meeting in Buenos Aires, following Venezuela's suspension from the group.
She was named vice president in June 2018, with Mr Maduro announcing the appointment on X by describing her as “a young woman, brave, seasoned, daughter of a martyr, revolutionary and tested in a thousand battles.”
Hours after Mr Maduro's capture and before she addressed the National Defence Council, Mr Trump said she had spoken to Secretary of State Marco Rubio. According to the US President, she appeared willing to work with Washington on a new phase for Venezuela.
“She had a conversation with Marco. She said, ‘We’re going to do whatever you need.’ I think she was quite courteous. We’re going to do this right,” Mr Trump said.
But some analysts believe she is unlikely to make any concessions to the US.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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